I found this poem to be refreshing in its straightforwardness. A woman is in a moral dilemma as to how to express her love to her lover, but after looking for advice in various places, "The heaven of the stars" and "the darkened sea", she comes up with nothing. Because she comes up with no advice, no direction to take, she proceeds to do nothing, to act the same as the sources she sought for advice by not doing anything at all.
But this poem raises a critical question: Should a lack of inspiration from outside sources deter us from taking action in pursuing a cause?
Also, what do you think about how this women will proceed to answer this critical question?
Does this poem follow Hegelian's dialectic? If so, what is the synthesis?- TMc-c Mar 13, 2008
I also liked this poem. I think it was because it appeared very simple and straightforward, but it still dealt with a more philosophical type question. It didn't have any words that needed to be looked up, so it wasn't very intimidating as I read it. However, "Amalfi" in the title is probably a reference to something I'm not sure of (I'm thinking a place where she is reflecting about her lover), but I can still get plenty out of the poem without needed to know what this word means. Unlike the previous poster, I didn't take the ending to mean she wasn't planning on doing anything. I thought she was going to do something, like sing or weep, because anything is better than nothing. I think this view of the poem can answer the question posed by TMc. Just because you don't receive help from others, doesn't mean you shouldn't do anything. Like the woman in the poem, just because she was only answered with silence by the sky and sea, doesn't mean she must return with silence to her lover. - kec-c Mar 13, 2008 I also liked this poem. Like kec said, it is very straight forward and doesn't have any difficult language. I think that this allows us to interpret it for our own lives. I definitely agree that this poem is about a woman who wants to know how to show her affection for her lover, but I also interpreted it in a different way for my own life. When I read this poem the emphasis on a silent answer reminded me of how many people feel that God answers their prayers with silence. In reality, the answer is right in front of us. We often expect a straight forward answer from God. To me this poem was a person asking what the most important thing in their life should be. They want to know what they should pour their soul into. God doesn't answer because the answer is already present in all of God's creation. The person in this poem appears as if they are asking God how they can love Him. The answer is by loving the creation that is right in front of you.
I am not sure what the significance of the title is. I found on Wikipedia that Amalfi is a city in Italy that was a very popular vacation spot for British aristocracy around the time during which the poem was written. I am not sure how this information applies to the poem. - bga-c Mar 13, 2008
I don't think that a lack of inspiration should deter us from pursuing what we want. If you have internal desire for something and you know it's right, the important thing is to go for it. You never know unless you try. It's still tough though; easier said than done. Influence from the outside always influences decisions because people always have their opinions. Sometimes they want to protect you and other times they do it for themselves and their well being. I guess it depends on which influences you decide to listen to. One has to decide who they can trust and the intentions of the person they decide to listen to. But ultimately it comes down to yourself. Sometimes you have to overcome outside views and figure out what you want and not what others want for you. At the same time, you have to take the situation into account. Sometimes you need others' opinions, but sometimes you don't.- aja-c Mar 13, 2008
But this poem raises a critical question: Should a lack of inspiration from outside sources deter us from taking action in pursuing a cause?
Also, what do you think about how this women will proceed to answer this critical question?
Does this poem follow Hegelian's dialectic? If so, what is the synthesis?-
I also liked this poem. I think it was because it appeared very simple and straightforward, but it still dealt with a more philosophical type question. It didn't have any words that needed to be looked up, so it wasn't very intimidating as I read it. However, "Amalfi" in the title is probably a reference to something I'm not sure of (I'm thinking a place where she is reflecting about her lover), but I can still get plenty out of the poem without needed to know what this word means. Unlike the previous poster, I didn't take the ending to mean she wasn't planning on doing anything. I thought she was going to do something, like sing or weep, because anything is better than nothing. I think this view of the poem can answer the question posed by TMc. Just because you don't receive help from others, doesn't mean you shouldn't do anything. Like the woman in the poem, just because she was only answered with silence by the sky and sea, doesn't mean she must return with silence to her lover. -
I also liked this poem. Like kec said, it is very straight forward and doesn't have any difficult language. I think that this allows us to interpret it for our own lives. I definitely agree that this poem is about a woman who wants to know how to show her affection for her lover, but I also interpreted it in a different way for my own life. When I read this poem the emphasis on a silent answer reminded me of how many people feel that God answers their prayers with silence. In reality, the answer is right in front of us. We often expect a straight forward answer from God. To me this poem was a person asking what the most important thing in their life should be. They want to know what they should pour their soul into. God doesn't answer because the answer is already present in all of God's creation. The person in this poem appears as if they are asking God how they can love Him. The answer is by loving the creation that is right in front of you.
I am not sure what the significance of the title is. I found on Wikipedia that Amalfi is a city in Italy that was a very popular vacation spot for British aristocracy around the time during which the poem was written. I am not sure how this information applies to the poem. -
I don't think that a lack of inspiration should deter us from pursuing what we want. If you have internal desire for something and you know it's right, the important thing is to go for it. You never know unless you try. It's still tough though; easier said than done. Influence from the outside always influences decisions because people always have their opinions. Sometimes they want to protect you and other times they do it for themselves and their well being. I guess it depends on which influences you decide to listen to. One has to decide who they can trust and the intentions of the person they decide to listen to. But ultimately it comes down to yourself. Sometimes you have to overcome outside views and figure out what you want and not what others want for you. At the same time, you have to take the situation into account. Sometimes you need others' opinions, but sometimes you don't.-